My take on the 3310 is that it seems to be a decent jukebox with limited DVR capability tacked on. I guess that's ok as long as you realize what you're buying.

The problem as I see it, is that they brought out a software version (1.8.2) that was supposed to fix some issues, and it actually introduced new problems. Things like the frequent reboots and problems recording two back-to-back tv shows. Most of the responses I saw indicated that users had to revert back to the previous version.

I would think TVIX would feel obligated to at least fix the problems 1.8.2 introduced.

Noticed last night that the R-3300 has a web server running on port 80. Not sure why but I'm sure its adding to resource usage on the box.

When channging channels at the top of the screen an information slide is presented. The slide contains the start time, end time and a red time line. The timeline sometimes is wrong showing a full red bar. However the start, end and system time is correct. This is what is probably causing the wrong epg recordings.

While I agree that building proper DVR has some challenges in particular when running with limited resources (CPU/memory etc..) I do not accept a poor quality product. If the resources are low things should take more time but never ever ever crash. Coming from the networking world I am definitely understand limited resources but my product will be thrown out the door if it will crash. There are many good example for consumer products that are using low power CPU (iPhone, GooglePhone etc...) while still maintaining good stability. Android is open source environment with many features that can save you guys lots of development time.

Other then the technical issues I am really surprised that you knowingly sells a product that has poor quality. This is not a good strategy to be successful company. You need to do some serious thinking there...

I rarely use my TVIX for TV recording now. I have DTV PAL DVR for this purpose. I won't recommend my friends to buy this product at current condition.

With only a single tuner, the TViX R3310 is really only good for occasional DTV recording. But I find that it's terrific for playing all the HDTV files that my other tuners record. Unlike all of the Sigma Designs-based players, except the M6500A with latest firmware, that I've tried, the R3310 gives very solid regular and trick playback of ATSC null-packet-stripped recordings. The SD boxes have a generic flaw in trick plays in the later stages of >1-hour ATSC files. They don't even reliably jump in the right direction.

With only a single tuner, the TViX R3310 is really only good for occasional DTV recording. But I find that it's terrific for playing all the HDTV files that my other tuners record. Unlike all of the Sigma Designs-based players, except the M6500A with latest firmware, that I've tried, the R3310 gives very solid regular and trick playback of ATSC null-packet-stripped recordings. The SD boxes have a generic flaw in trick plays in the later stages of >1-hour ATSC files. They don't even reliably jump in the right direction.

What is your other tuner? If you have an other tuner which can record, I believe, it can also play the recording. So, it does not make sense for you to keep TVIX if you have a choice between the two at that time.

Overall, I've been satisfied with my Tvix over the last year of use but for the instability of recording/tuning that the latest firmware 1.8.2 brought with it. In the last month I've actually pulled a "Rusty" and gone back to 1.5.4 just so I could feel a bit better about recording the last season of Lost (I had pretty much given up all hope of a stable PVR in regards to digital channels with the newest firmware). So far so good, but the exercise kind of proves that Dvico introduced more problems than they fixed from 1.5.4 to 1.8.2, given that analog stations always work fine but digital tuning is just a total game of roulette. I've reported this to them in the last few months but all I've gotten is "sounds like a QAM encryption issue, we'll check this again with 1.8.2" and then nothing.

For playing back previously recorded shows, iso files and other digital media, the box is absolutely great and with young children it is a great thing to have (infinitely better than having to mess around with discs, or worse have your children mess around with them). Still, while I didn't spend a whole lot for this device and it fit what I needed at the time, I really would like Dvico to fix the tuner issues so I'm not running a hobbled box forever.

What is your other tuner? If you have an other tuner which can record, I believe, it can also play the recording. So, it does not make sense for you to keep TVIX if you have a choice between the two at that time.

I have more than a dozen "other tuner" choices. (I am an HDTV hobbyist and beta tester)

Most of those tuners either cannot record and play at the same time and/or they are inside of HTPCs that have software-only playback with slightly inferior picture quality to that of the stand-alone players.

I like the R3310's ATSC file play and its very low power consumption. The fact that it can also be a DVD jukebox is nice too.

Banana, I agree that DViCo needs to fix the tuner's firmware from 1.8.2. Let's keep those "cards and letters" coming!

... the TViX R3310 is ... terrific for playing all the HDTV files that my other tuners record. Unlike all of the Sigma Designs-based players, except the M6500A ... that I've tried, the R3310 gives very solid regular and trick playback of ATSC null-packet-stripped recordings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPeterson

...I like the R3310's ATSC file play and its very low power consumption. The fact that it can also be a DVD jukebox is nice too.
...I agree that DViCo needs to fix the tuner's firmware from 1.8.2...

I've always wondered about the M6500A vs the 3310. It seems they've dropped the 3310. I no longer see it listed on one web site, but I still see the M6500A. Another vendor site dropped both the 3310 and M6500A, and then brought the M6500A back with the phrase "back by popular demand".

Question 1:
Am I correct that the 3310 is no longer offered by DIVCO?
If true, then what's the chance they'd update 1.8.2?

Question 2:
How does the M6500A compare to the 3310, as a jukebox and as a DVR? Does the M6500A's DVR part have the same bugs as the 3310?

Question 1:
Am I correct that the 3310 is no longer offered by DIVCO?
If true, then what's the chance they'd update 1.8.2?

It's effectively been superseded by the M6620N, but the firmwares are sufficiently close that I think DViCo can be "shamed" into making at least one more round of bug fixes from the 66x0 available to the 3310. We'll see.

Quote:

Question 2:
How does the M6500A compare to the 3310, as a jukebox and as a DVR? Does the M6500A's DVR part have the same bugs as the 3310?

They're rather similar with respect to design limitations on the PVR side. The M6500A, however, is the better jukebox, as it can play 1080p and AVC/MKV files that the 3310 cannot. IMO the M6620N is better than either one, though it still lacks some of the jukebox features of the 6500.

I had forgotten about the M6620N. When it first came out I was concerned that it was a two-tuner model. Two tuners means the TV signal has to be split in half and I figured that would cause weaker channels to be lost. I suspected the single tuner models might pick up more channels.

Let's not bash the R3310 too bad. I use mine all the time to record OTA HD programs. I manually set the clock 10 seconds slow so that the proper EPG info goes into the file name. Using firmware v1.5.4 I do back to back recordings, same or different channel with no problems. I only record from channels that have full indicated signal strength as the recording will stop if signal is lost. There are the few annoying issues that I'm surprised were not fixed, but overall it's really not that bad. I don't watch that much TV to need to record from more than one channel at the same time and can watch with the TV tuner and record with the TVIX. In fact I have a hard time watching everything that I record. I'd like to see DVICO fix v1.5.4 with the functionality that version has. v1.8.2 is garbage and never should have been a public release. As far as the multimedia functions, I use most with no issues. I have networked to a PC and display digital photos, digital videos, have converted old VHS tapes with A/V input and watch DVD files. Also HD recordings are not encrypted, so you can do what you'd like with them. So if DVICO can fix some of the tuner/PVR issues, pretty good box.

Let's not bash the R3310 too bad. I use mine all the time to record OTA HD programs. Using firmware v1.5.4 I do back to back recordings, same or different channel with no problems. I only record from channels that have full indicated signal strength as the recording will stop if signal is lost. There are the few annoying issues that I'm surprised were not fixed, but overall it's really not that bad. v1.8.2 is garbage and never should have been a public release.

As far as the multimedia functions, I use most with no issues. I have networked to a PC and display digital photos, digital videos, have converted old VHS tapes with A/V input and watch DVD files. Also HD recordings are not encrypted, so you can do what you'd like with them. So if DVICO can fix some of the tuner/PVR issues, pretty good box.

I would agree with all of that. What puzzles me is that DIVCO would devote the man-hours to producing 1.8.2 and then not fix the bugs - so it's not even used. Everyone reverted back to 1.5.4. Seems like a waste of resources. If you're going to spend the time producing it, you'd think they'd want to make it usable.

One comment about moving DVD-R content over to the 3310. Converting those DVD files to .mpg format and then moving the .mpg files over to the 3310 works so much better.

1. The 3310 can navigate through a .mpg file better than a native DVD file. You only have fast-forward with the DVD file, but you can jump forward with the .mpg.

So after lost of playing around I found the main source of the stability problems on the DVICO TVIX R-33XX. Most of the problems with the box rebooting was due to date/time set to tv or network. After changing to manual time the box is stable. I could not get it to reboot by just using the fuctions on the remote.

One comment about moving DVD-R content over to the 3310. Converting those DVD files to .mpg format and then moving the .mpg files over to the 3310 works so much better.

DB, I'm curious as to how you do this. What program or method do you use to convert DVD-Rs to .mpg files?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DB100

I would agree with all of that. What puzzles me is that DIVCO would devote the man-hours to producing 1.8.2 and then not fix the bugs - so it's not even used. Everyone reverted back to 1.5.4. Seems like a waste of resources. If you're going to spend the time producing it, you'd think they'd want to make it usable.

This is also 100% true. One slight miscalculation with me going back to 1.5.4 though: all of my recordings from 1.8.2 are unrecognized. SIGH.

Tech boy, glad you got your stability problem sorted out. One thing that troubles me with some of the talk lately is that Dvico is phasing out support for the 3310. On their support page, they list known issues and we've obviously been hammering on them for fixing some of the new problems...I really hope that in good conscious they won't leave us high and dry.

They replied to me a prior posting that they do not have anymore firmware code memory available. So any change would involve revamping the code to make space. A lot of work for little payback. I think they have lost interest in this market and product.

DB, I'm curious as to how you do this. What program or method do you use to convert DVD-Rs to .mpg files?

I started out editing recordings with a free software package called Streamclip. I found it with a Google search. Streamclip is sort of cumbersome to use, and eventually I bit the bullet and bought VideoReDo. VideoReDo makes it really easy to edit/convert recordings. When I was using Streamclip I never tried converting a DVD to mpg, so I don't know if it can do it; but VideoReDo can. There may also be free software out there that doesn't edit, but only converts a DVD file to another format; you'd have to search, or maybe some readers here can chime in with suggestions.

To convert a DVD, load the DVD into your computer, fire up VideoReDo, open one of the files on the DVD, and do 'Save As' to convert it to .mpg. Then move that .mpg file over to your 33xx.

They replied to me a prior posting that they do not have anymore firmware code memory available. So any change would involve revamping the code to make space. A lot of work for little payback. I think they have lost interest in this market and product.

That's horribly depressing. I consider the latest firmware 1.8.2 to be thoroughly broken when it comes to QAM tuning, which makes the my device almost useless to me as a PVR. If I can't rely on it to record TV or even tune channels correctly, it makes a large portion of the device totally busted. The media functions are all great but I kind of wish I could use the device to its fullest; this is why I bought the thing.

Does anyone know, can you put a device like this "down level" from another tuner (that can work better) and record channels from that? In other words, could I hook up my cable to a digital TV or cable box with a better tuner in it and then send a coax connection to the Tvix to record those channels? Would a channel scan from the "down level" Tvix just recognize the tuned channels from the other tuner?

It seems ridiculous that I'm even considering this, given that the Tvix should be able to do all of it without it. My other plan of throwing together a HTPC from spare parts that I have around is running into snag after snag that I just don't see getting that going any time soon. It would make my options a heckuva lot easier if the Tvix just WORKED.

My DViCo contact says that they plan to release a new R3300 firmware "soon" and that they'll fix the unreliable audio on QAM. They have fixed that problem on the M6600, their other Realtek-based streamer, so there's good reason to be optimistic about its being fixed on the R3300 too.

After using the product for a few weeks I have made the following conclusion. I would like to see the bugs found in the TVIX 3300 fixed. With a little bit more work on the firmware from DVICO/TVIX this product could be the best PVR/Media Player. An example of good hardware and buggy software was Dlink DNS-323 NAS. At the start DNS-323 was absolute disaster similar to TVIX 3300. After the Dlink continues firmware releases and bug fixes the product is selling like hot cakes and is now one of the best around. Dlink's most popular device even after other hardware was released. This continued support from Dlink has given me the confidence to buy the next model.

The things I like about the DVICO/TVIX are:
1. Unit was $250 AU with the Twin Tuner and HDD.
2. Unit is very quite.
3. Unit is very small.
4. Unit is visually appealing.
5. The picture quality is 8/10.
6. Lost of input/output connectors for versatile requirements
7. PVR, Media Player, Twin Tuner, DVD Jukebox, Network Streaming

Things I don't like about the DVICO/TVIX:
1. Rumours of limited to no additonal support on the products
2. No open source projects to allow the community to support the products
3. Limited to no support via email.
4. No formal forum/group to allow the community to contribute to finding reporting and fixing bugs
5. No formal forum/group to document feature requests
6. No beta testing program.

Australian law and I are sure that US law also protect the consumers from dodgy products. If the bugs are not fixed my last result will be to get a refund. Not sure if DVICO/TVIX care but they should look how Dlink turned it around with proactive support.

My DViCo contact says that they plan to release a new R3300 firmware "soon" and that they'll fix the unreliable audio on QAM. They have fixed that problem on the M6600, their other Realtek-based streamer, so there's good reason to be optimistic about its being fixed on the R3300 too.

T, this sounds good. What exact problem is this "unreliable audio on QAM" though? My main issue with the 3310 has been channels that either tune poorly or don't tune at all. This obviously affects recording quite a bit. Are you saying their problem is the audio and this can cause tuning issues?

Here's hoping whatever it is they do it takes care of the majority of our problems listed in the thread. I also wonder what happened to that whole beta testing thing...in the year that I've owned the Tvix, I think I only tested one or two firmware versions. Of course, verison 1.8.2 was like beta for everyone!

Things I don't like about the DVICO/TVIX:
....
4. No formal forum/group to allow the community to contribute to finding reporting and fixing bugs
5. No formal forum/group to document feature requests
6. No beta testing program.

Well, my 3310 managed to completely wipe itself off the face of the Earth over the last three days. On Monday I was working on copying some .iso files to the unit over USB via my laptop. I admit it was a lot, about 45GB worth of movies (six files, I think) when about half way through the copying suddenly stopped and I was getting errors on one of the .iso files. That's when the terribleness started.

Every time after that, whenever I would connect the unit over USB, Windows no longer recognized the drive and kept saying I had to format it. Since I really didn't want to do that (and lose somewhere in the realm of 200GB worth of movies and recordings), I kept cancelling it and tried to access the drive otherwise. No joy any other way, yet running the Tvix normally and through my TV let me see all my original folders, recordings, etc.

Fast forward to tonight when I'm trying again to copy some movie files to the unit, and I'm struggling with using the network interface to try copying that way. I decide to try USB again, and it gives me the same issue (Windows acts like the drive isn't formatted). Finally after a few freezes and reboots, the Tvix decides it doesn't like the internal drive either and when it boots up a third or fourth time it asks me to format too. I tried rebooting it a few more times to no avail, and now I appear to be not only without any way to get to the drive (Windows still won't recognize it) but the whole drive appears wiped.

I AM A VERY UNHAPPY CAMPER.

I don't even know where to go with this, I guess I could complain to Dvico but what exactly is their issue? Somehow the USB interface corrupted the drive to where it was partially usable? I'm really at a loss here. I know the drive is gone, I don't think there's much I can do about it. Just when I was starting to get pleased again with my Tvix, with the hopes that they are finally ironing out the tuning problems and I was working on building up an instant-DVD library on it, the thing goes kablooey. Cripes.

Banana, it may be too late, but did you try the TViX' internal check disk when the USB errors started appearing?

Also, was the HDD hot during the copying? I'm wondering if it was simply the HDD going bad (they do do that sometimes, you know) or if it was somehow stressed by the lengthy copies.

I was relieved to read that it was "only" the HDD that was "wiped off the face of the Earth" and not really the TViX itself. Granted, the recordings are high value and time-consuming to replace, but HDDs are getting cheaper all the time.

T, you know I didn't think to try the unit's built-in check disk when the errors started, although I have used it in the past. Since last night I've been in the process of reformatting the drive from scratch so I can hopefully get it to a usable state again. At one point last night when the Tvix did decide it could read the drive again it formatted it to just the three standard folders of Movie, Music, and Photos, but Windows still wouldn't recognize the drive over USB so I was basically out of luck at that point.

I sincerely hope the HDD isn't just dead meat, since that would be a record in my computing history that a brand new drive from unpacking -> regular use -> dead meat would be about a year. That seems really low even for something that uses the drive a lot like a DVR. I wouldn't say in that year's time we've been heavy, heavy users of the drive. I would classify our use of the Tvix and the internal drive as normal to light use if anything.

I also am just kind of in the state of sad, sad panda now instead of the all caps unhappy camper of last night. Kind of wrote out my frustrations without a whole lot of reflection. I kind of just want to know that the device isn't going to do this again, given that I plan on eventually moving at least a hundred or so movies to it and really taking advantage of the jukebox functionality. If the drive goes kaboom again, I'll have just been forced back to square one.